I'm Geezer, a Bears fan since 1945 when I entered sports puberty as a 11 yr. old Cub fan, the last pennant winners until the 2006 (?) team who also won the World Series. With the Cubs season over, what else was there to listen to? The Bears of course! NO TV BACK THEN YET EITHER! TV was just coming into use and the NFL didn't start televising the game until 1948-49 (?). And few people could afford TVs. The local firehouses had TVs, bought by all the firemen pitching in to buy them.
So I learned the rules and the names of the game from listening to the radio broadcasts. Sid Luckman, Johnny Lujack, Bulldog Turner, George Connor, etc.... Hell, it was hard to be a Packer hater then too as they were pathetic in the post-Don Hudson era! Their predecessors as most-hated-team were the CHICAGO CARDINALS, a team I hated with a passion that only a 11-12 year old can muster. But that's a story for another time.
The firehouses were pretty generous about letting kids and some of the locals in to watch TV. Unless they were called out on
an alarm and then we all had to leave. Seats reserved for firemen only. Black-and-white TV only too! Color TV was only a
research lab dream at the time.
I left Chicago for sunny California in 1979 where I lived for some 30 years. I've since moved to southern Arizona where I've lived for over 11 years. As a pensioner, I could no longer afford CA, but I still love it with all its shortcomings.
My favorite Bears? Butkus, Sayers, Atkins, Sweetness, the Fridge, Peanuts, Olin, Url, Devin, and Dennis Gentry. Can't recall many of the old-timers now unless I look into a Bears Guide to jog my memory. Met Sid Luckman once by chance at a Montgomery Wards store sports department.
Favorite Bears memories? Super Bowl XX, the 1965 team with a super defense that almost carried the Bears into the league championship, Devin's opening kickoff return in the Super Bowl, the 2006 defeat of the Cardinals, and Gale Sayers' heroics in his rookie year. A fellow poster on another board once called him "the greatest homerun hitter in the history of the NFL" , a description I agree with 100 %. He could take it to the house from ANYWHERE, on a pass reception, a punt or kickoff return, and certainly from the line of scrimmage! Easily as electrifying anywhere on the field as Devin was on kickoffs
Many, many memories of Da Bears, and not all of them pleasant And that too is a story for another time.
I went by the handle of ejhbear on another prior "incarnation" of this forum. Recognize some of the names here from that board but not their current handles. YogiDaBear, Wulfy, a few others. I've been away from most of the Bears boards for some time now. Peeking in occasionally. Don't have any "sports wisdom" or other football savvy to dispense. Other than some history but even that's fading. Glad to be aboard now for a while yet. Time is - well, if you were ever in the Army, you've no doubt heard the expression "short-timer". That's my status. I think!